Archive for December, 2002

Out in paperback in the US next month: Them: Adventures With Extremists by the excellent Jon Ronson.

One thing you quickly learn about them is that they really don’t like being called extremists. In fact they often tell me that we are the real extremists. They say that the Western liberal cosmopolitan establishment is itself a fanatical, depraved belief system. I like it when they say this because it makes me feel as if I have a belief system.

While I was in Seattle this weekend I picked up a copy of the alternative weekly, The Stranger. Looking through it, I found a surprisingly good piece on the futility of anti-war efforts. Here’s an excerpt:

“If you want to feel good and sanctimonious and smug in your moral superiority, or if you’ve got an overpowering need not to feel alone in your alienated loserhood, go protest tomorrow about how evil American policy is. Just don’t tell yourself you’re advancing the cause; there’s nothing mainstream American culture hates more than a moralizing lefty, especially post-9/11.”

Bill Bennett’s long been one of the more provocative conservative thinkers, and his excellent piece on the GOP’s race problems is a must-read from NRO. Or, you can read an account of the Lott events by reading Howard Fineman’s column on MSNBC. Does anyone else think that there is perhaps a bias-problem for this article, which is co-authored by Eleanor Clift?

Put in place his strategy for implementing a nationwide struggle to wrench the means of production from the parasites’ grasp and thrust it into the proud, eager hands of the proletariat to build a future in which all were equal and rhymes were the forgotten legacy of a debauched capitalist system! (Sung very quickly, with great anger)

I am sick of all of this Lord of the Rings crap (here’s a stupid photo to look at). My office in Portland is filled with geek-stricken people who are going to see this movie, and who talk about nothing but the last movie and those goddam fat books written by that Tolkien fellow. I have not seen either movie, as I am waiting for all three to arrive on DVD, and then I will ignore the entire trilogy as a boxed set.

This just goes to prove that the world has been taken over by dorks. Every kid in high school loves Lord of the Rings. In my high school, we used to have a lot of Izod-clad jocks who would beat the shit out of anybody caught reading Tolkien. Get caught with a Spider-Man comic and you could get a Ping sand-wedge buried in your skull. That was Reagan’s America. Deal.

Anyway… just wanted to drop by and see if any other alums signed up for the blog.

Henry Kissinger said the war against Iraq is “integral” to the war on terrorism: “The war against Iraq is an integral part of the war on terrorism. How else can we convince the Saudi Arabias of the world that it is too dangerous to collude in challenging the United States?”

60% Favor the biggest death penalty: In a Washington Post poll (with a few rather dubious and uninformative questions) Bush’s job approval, race relations and all the normal bullshit are discussed, along with 60% saying they would favor nuclear bomb use in Iraq if American troops were attacked by bio or chemical weapons.

On a sad note …

Domino’s, in its attempt to stay competitive with the cheesey goodness of Pizza Hut, has started serving pubic hair pizza. You have to wonder if that counts as one of the toppings on the Extra Large, Five-topping special.

“We believe that Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema’s actions are in fact hate speech. The movie is intentionally being named The Two Towers in order to capitalize on the tragedy of September 11. Clearly, you cannot deny the fact that this falls under hate speech. We believe that if they will not willingly change the name, the government should step in to stop the movie’s production or to force a name change.”

This has got to be hoax, because if it isn’t, my urge to kick stupid people is going to skyrocket.

This Story from today’s Register Guard makes me wonder what our friends at OSPIRG do with all that money we give them. It certainly isn’t cleaning up streams. Meghann Farnsworth is still a foolish little girl. But the Stubbs comment is golden.

This from “dance idol” Moby, who was attacked by presumed Eminem fans: “After being punched in the head from behind a few times I turned around and he then punched me in the face a couple of times and then they ran away. So now I’m sitting here bloody and beaten up and waiting to file a police report.” Might not be timely spew, but it sure is good blogging material.